Find a Book Festival
Scotland is a nation of readers and boasts more than 50 book and literary festivals held throughout the year from Stornoway to the Scottish Borders and from the Western Isles to Aberdeen.
We aim to collate a full, up-to-date list of all the book festivals taking place in Scotland so please let us know if there are any events that should be included or details to be updated via email on admin@literaturealliancescotland.co.uk or on Twitter @LitScotland.
Happy reading around the nation!
Book Festivals in Scotland
| MONTH | DATE | EVENT | WEBSITE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JANUARY | 21 Jan - 9 Feb 2020 | Burns&Beyond | @burnsandbeyond | burnsandbeyond.com |
| 24-26 Jan 2020 | Further From Festival Linlithgow | @Furtherfrom | website | |
| FEBRUARY | 13-16 Feb 2020 | Winter Words Festival Pitlochry | @PITLOCHRYft | website |
| 20-23 Feb 2020 | Granite Noir Aberdeen | @GraniteNoirFest #GraniteNoirFest | granitenoir.com | |
| 20-29 Feb 2020 | Paisley Book Festival | @BookPaisley | tbc | |
| 22 Feb 2020 | Hooked Dumfries | @wigwambookfest | Website | |
| MARCH | 4-8 Mar 2020 | StAnza Poetry Festival Scotland's International Poetry Festival, St Andrews | @StAnzaPoetry #StAnza20 | stanza poetry.org |
| 5-7 Mar 2020 | Small Print Children's Book Festival from Off the Page, Stirling | Facebook page | ||
| 7 Mar 2020 | Wee Write! | @AyeWrite | ayewrite.com/weewrite | |
| CALLED OFF 12-29 Mar 2020 | AyeWrite! Glasgow's Book Festival | @AyeWrite | ayewrite.com | |
| 14-15 Mar 2020 | Write By The Sea Argyll | @secret_coast | writebythesea.co.uk | |
| APRIL | CANCELLED 3-5 Apr 2020 | Big Bang Weekend 2020 Wigtown | Website | |
| CANCELLED 6-9 Apr 2020 | British Wildlife Book Festival Grantown-on-Spey | @BookWildlife | britishwildlifebookfestival.com | |
| POSTPONED 16-19 April 2019 | BIG LIT: The Stewartry Book Festival Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries & Galloway | biglit.org | ||
| CANCELLED 18-19 Apr 2020 | Glasgow Zine Fest | @GlasgowZineLib | Glasgow Zine Fest | |
| POSTPONED 23-26 Apr 2020 | John O'Groat's Book Festival | Facebook page | ||
| CANCELLED 24-26 Apr 2020 | Big DoG Children's Book Festival Wigtown | @BigDog_Fest | ||
| CANCELLED 25 & 26 Apr2020 | Colonsay Book Festival | @ColonsayBookFes #CBF20 | colonsaybookfestival.org.uk | |
| tbc | Soutar Festival of Words | Website | ||
| MAY | POSTPONED (8-10 May) to 9-11 Oct 2020 | Boswell Book Festival Dumfries House, Ayrshire | @bozzyfest | boswellbookfestival.co.uk |
| CANCELLED 8-10 May 2020 - | Ullapool Book Festival Ross-shire, Scottish Highlands | @UllapoolBookFes | ullapoolbookfestival.co.uk | |
| 8-24 May 2020 | Southside Fringe Festival Glasgow's Southside | @KeepItSouth | southsidefringe.com | |
| 18-22 May 2020 | Open the Door digital festival from Glasgow Women's Library | @womenslibrary | Open the Door | |
| tbc | Connect with Nature at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh | @BotanicsStories | stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/28605 | |
| 22-24 May 2020 | Coastword Dunbar | @CoastWordFest | coastword.co.uk |
|
| *Re-shaped as a podcast | May Festival University of Aberdeen | abdn.ac.uk/mayfestival | ||
| JUNE | *ONLINE 5-7 June 2020 | Cymera Book Festival | @CymeraF | cymerafestival.co.uk |
| JULY | CANCELLED 1-5 July 2020 | East Neuk Festival | @EastNeukFest #ENF20 | eastneukfestival.com |
| CANCELLED 4 July 2020 | Glasgow Comic Con Scotland's Comic Book Festival | @glasgowcomiccon | glasgowcomiccon.com | |
| *ONLINE 12 July-27 Sept 2020 | Baillie Gifford Borders Book Festival ONLINE | @BordersBookFest #bordersbookfest20 | bordersbookfestival.org | |
| tbc | Scot Lit Fest Scotland's virtual book festival presented by Saltire Society | @scotlitfest #scotlitfest | scotlitfest.scot | |
| AUGUST | tbc | Govanhill International Festival and Carnival (Glasgow's Southside) | @GovanhillBaths | govanhillbaths.com/festival |
| CANCELLED July 2020 | Bute Noir Crime Writing Festival Isle of Bute | @ButeNoir #butenoir | butenoir.co.uk | |
| tbc | Book Fringe | @BookFringe | bookfringe.com | |
| POSTPONED 7-16 Aug 2020 | Fringe by the Sea North Berwick | @fringebythesea2 | fringebythesea.com | |
| *ONLINE 15-31 Aug 2020 | Edinburgh International Book Festival ONLINE | @edbookfest #edbookfest | edbookfest.co.uk | |
| tbc | ScotlandsFest at Edinburgh Fringe, from Luath Press | @LuathPress | ScotlandsFest | |
| *ONLINE 27-30 Aug 2020 | Islay Book Festival | @islaybookfest | islaybookfestival.co.uk | |
| CANCELLED 29 & 30 Aug 2020 | Beyond Borders International Festival of Literature and Thought | @BeyondBorders__ | beyondbordersscotland.com | |
| TBC 29 & 30th Aug 2020 | Three Lochs Book & Arts Festival Strontian | threelochs.co.uk | ||
| Aug/SEPTEMBER | POSTPONED 29 Aug - 13 Sept 2020 | McLellan Art Festival, Arran Celebrating late great Scottish dramatist and short story writer Robert McLellan | arrantheatreandarts.co.uk/mclellan-festival | |
| tbc | Skye Book Festival | @SkyeBookFest | skyebookfestival.co.uk | |
| tbc | Spirit of Moray Book Festival Elgin | @librariesmoray #SpiritofMoray | ||
| TBC 1-6 Sept 2020 | Outwith Festival Dunfermline | @outwithfestival #weareoutwith | outwithfestival.co.uk | |
| *ONLINE 12-13 Sept 2020 | Nairn Book & Arts Festival Inverness | @Nairn_Festival | nairnfestival.co.uk | |
| *ONLINE 17-20 Sept 2020 | Bloody Scotland Scotland's international crime writing festival, Stirling | @BloodyScotland #bloodyscotland | bloodyscotland.com | |
| tbc | Words of War Book Festival The Black Watch Castle & Museum, Perth | theblackwatch.co.uk/events/words-of-war-book-festival | ||
| *ONLINE 24-27 Sept 2020 | Tidelines Irvine, North Ayrshire | @TidelinesFest | tidelinesbookfest.com | |
| *ONLINE 25 Sep - 4 Oct 2020 | Wigtown Book Festival Scotland's national book town's literary festival | @WigtownBookFest #wigtown | wigtownbookfestival.com | |
| tbc | Bookends Benderloch, Oban | |||
| OCTOBER | tbc | Imprint Book Festival East Ayrshire | Website | |
| tbc Oct 2020 | Ness Book Fest Inverness | @NessBookFest1 | nessbookfest.co.uk | |
| CANCELLED 2-4 Oct 2020 | Bookmark Blairgowrie, Rattray & The Glens, Perth & Kinross | @bookmarkblair | bookmarkblair.com | |
| Rescheduled to 9-11 Oct 2020 (from May) | Boswell Book Festival Dumfries House, Ayrshire | @bozzyfest | boswellbookfestival.co.uk | |
| *ONLINE 15-18 Oct 2020 | Berwick Literary Festival Northumberland | @BerwickLitFest | berwickliteraryfestival.com | |
| *ONLINE 22-24 Oct 2020 | Word "off" the Street - Dingwall's October Art Festival | word-on-the-street.weebly.com | ||
| *ONLINE/HYBRID 17-31 Oct 2020 | Scottish International Storytelling Festival Edinburgh | @ScotStoryCentre | sisf.org.uk | |
| POSTPONED 23-25 Oct 2020 | West Over Sea - Tobermory Book Festival | @TobermoryBookF1 | Westoversea.co.uk | |
| *ONLINE tbc 22-25 Oct | Orkney Storytelling Festival | @OrkneyStoF | orkneystorytellingfestival.co.uk | |
| tbc | Faclan Hebridean Book Festival An Lanntair, Stornoway | @anlanntair | lanntair.com/creative-programme/faclan | |
| CANCELLED | Tarbert Book Festival Argyll | @TarbertBookFest | tarbertbookfestival.org | |
| NOVEMBER | tbc | Wordplay Shetland Arts' annual book festival | @ShetlandArts | www.shetlandarts.org |
| CANCELLED 6-8 Nov 2020 | A Write Highland Hoolie! Mallaig's Book Festival | @WriteHoolie | a-write-highland-hoolie.com | |
| 13 Nov 2020 | Robert Louis Stevenson Day Annual week of events in Edinburgh and online in run up to RLS' birthday on 13 Nov | #RLSDay | ||
| *ONLINE 16-22 Nov 2020 | Book Week Scotland | @BookWeekScot | bookweekscotland.com | |
| TBC 16-22 Nov 2020 | Uist Book Festival | uistbookfestival.org | ||
| *ONLINE tbc 21 Nov 2020 | Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival Argyll & Bute | @coveburghhall | coveburghhall.org.uk |